Former Netflix-Marvel comic book series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher and The Defenders will officially call Disney Plus their new streaming home.
Disney has confirmed that all six series will begin streaming on the platform in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand starting Mar 16.
The shows left their original home at Netflix on Feb 28 after rights to the series reverted back to Disney. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D will also begin streaming on Mar 16 on Disney Plus.
While all of Netflix’s Marvel series were branded as “Netflix Originals” to consumers when they premiered on the streaming platform, the shows were licensed out to the streaming giant from Disney.
After Netflix’s licensing deal ended, it opened the door for Disney to move them to Disney Plus.
With the addition of these titles, some of which like Daredevil are violent and more mature, Disney Plus will simultaneously release an update to its existing parental controls in the U.S., prompting all subscribers to update their settings.
Netflix’s run of Marvel originals got its start with the launch of Daredevil in April 2015. All of the Netflix-Marvel series were canceled in 2018 and 2019 in the lead up to the Nov 2019 launch of Disney Plus, but a contract prevented Netflix’s Marvel shows and characters from appearing in any non-Netflix series or films for at least two years after each one’s cancellation.
November 2020 marked two years since Daredevil’s cancellation, thus opening the door for leading star Charlie Cox to reprise the fan favourite character in Disney’s expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This finally happened in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where Cox had a cameo appearance as his out-of-costume character Matt Murdock.
Both Cox and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige have expressed interest in more Daredevil.
Disney also confirmed that all seven of the Marvel series will be available across all other Disney Plus markets later this year.
